AN EVENING SO CLEAR.
Luke paced his room at the parsonage, Peter Tavy, the greater part of
the night. He had much, very much to trouble him. Urith was seriously
ill. Mistress Penwarne was with her, otherwise she would have been left
to servants who, with the best intentions, might not have known what to
do. Her fainting fits had continued one after another, and then had been
succeeded by an event which left her in fever and delirium.
Luke's hands clenched with wrath as he thought of Anthony--Anthony, to
whom had been entrusted the care of this precious jewel, who had
undervalued her, wearied of her, neglected her, and broken her heart,
perhaps destroyed her young life. He was gone before, indeed, that he
suspected how ill Urith was, and unaware of the danger she was in. Luke
could not communicate with him, and if he did send a message after him,
this might reach him when too late, or when unable to return. Urith's
life hung on a thread; and, as Luke paced his room, he could not resolve
whether it were better to pray that it should be spared or taken.
If her life were spared, it would be to what? To a renewal of
misunderstandings, to the greatest of unhappiness, probably to
deep-seated, embittered estrangement. Anthony and Urith were unsuited to
each other--she sullen, moody, and breaking forth into bursts of
passion; he impulsive, reckless, and without consideration for others.
Was it conceivable that they could become so tempered and altered as to
agree? He did not think this possible, and he folded his hands to pray
for her release; but again he shrank from framing such a prayer lest, by
making it, he should bring upon himself a sense of guilt, should his
petition be answered.
What was to become of Urith if she lived? Best of all that Anthony
should fall on the battle-field fighting for liberty and his religion.
That would ennoble a life that lacked dignity, that had been involved in
one disaster after another, that had alienated the hearts most
attached--his father's, his own, Luke's, and, lastly, his wife's. But
what if it were so? What if Urith were left a widow?
Luke's heart gave a leap, and then stood still and grew faint. She would
then be free. Dare he--he, Luke--think of her, love her, once more? He
had the strength of moral power to think out the situation, and he saw
now that it must ever remain impossible that they should unite. He had
his sacred calling, that brought on him obligations he dare not cast
aside; and Urith's husband must be one to live at Willsworthy, and
recover her property from the ruin into which it had fallen by devoting
thereto all the energies of his mind and body. Moreover, the radical
difference in their characters, in the entire direction of their minds,
must separate them, and make them strangers in all that is best and
stoutest in the inner nature. No, not even were she left a widow, could
Luke draw nearer to her.
With his delicate conscientiousness, he took himself to task for having
for a moment anticipated such a contingency springing out of the
possible death of Anthony. Then Luke turned his thoughts to Bessie, and
saw almost as dark a cloud over Hall as that which hung upon
Willsworthy. If Anthony and Urith were unsuited for each other, far
greater was the difference which existed between Fox and Bessie. Luke
knew Fox--knew his unscrupulousness, his greed, his meanness, his moral
worthlessness; and he valued no woman he knew higher than he did Bessie,
for her integrity, her guilelessness, and self-devotion. By no right
could Fox claim the hand of Bessie, for by no possibility could he make
her happy. To unite her to him was to ensure the desolation of her whole
life, the blighting of all that was beautiful in her. It was to consign
her to inevitable heartbreak. She would take an oath to do what was
impracticable; she could neither honour nor love such a man as Fox; she
would strive to do both, but must fail. Luke vowed that nothing would
induce him to pronounce the marriage benediction over their heads.
Luke was still up and awake, but kneeling at his table, and with his
head in his hands, when a rattle of gravel at his window-panes brought
him to his feet with a start, and he went to see who was in want of him.
He opened the casement and looked out, to see Mr. Solomon Gibbs below.
Luke descended and unfastened the door.
"Is Urith worse?" was his breathless question.
"Whew! I can say nothing," answered Mr. Gibbs. "I am cold. Always
dullest before dawn, it is said, and daybreak cannot be a bowshot off.
What dost think? High-way robbery on Black Down--this night Justice
Crymes plundered whilst on his way to Exeter in his glass coach. The
rascals prised open the boot behind, and though there were six men with
the carriage, no one either saw the robber or heard him at work. It must
have been done whilst they were urging the horses up the ascent; but it
is passing strange. The highwayman must have been mounted, for he could
not have escaped with the plundered goods had he not bestrid a horse.
How it was done, when it was done, by whom, no one can tell anything,
and by cock they're all talking, and every one has an opinion."
"Where is Mr. Crymes now?"
"Gone on. He was as one distraught--what with losing his money, and the
call of the business he was on."
"His money taken!"
"Ay, and more than his own--in all about four hundred pounds, that was
to be conveyed to the Duke of Monmouth at Taunton. He told me about it,
as I have to go to Mr. Cleverdon about it, and see that the
neighbourhood be searched for footpads. It must have been done quickly,
for Fox rode behind the carriage, and now and then alongside it, to the
rise of Black Down, when he turned and went back to Kilworthy. 'Twas
dexterously done, and must have been the deed of a skilled hand. Now,
what I am come here for is that I do not care myself to go to Squire
Cleverdon. There has not been pleasantness between him and my family, so
seeing your light, I came here to ask you to do the matter. Tell him
that steps must be taken to have the neighbourhood searched for
strangers--strangers they must be. We've none here could do the trick;
all honest folk. And I can be of better service going round to the
ale-houses. I am well known there, and there I can pick up information
that may be of use. Every cobbler to his bench, and that is mine. Will
you go to Hall as soon as you can in the morning?"
"I will do so, certainly. Now tell me about Urith."
"Urith! I cannot. I have not seen her; nor been near Willsworthy since
you came away. I have been going about the country, to the taverns
looking for Anthony, and not hearing any tidings of him."
"I can tell you where he is."
"I know myself now. Squire Crymes informed me that he had ridden across
the moor towards Exeter, also bound for Taunton. Let me sit down.
Nothing can be done yet; every one sleeps. The Hare and Hounds at
Cudliptown will be closed. Do you hap to have any cider that can be got
at? I am dry as old hay."
Mr. Gibbs took a seat.
"Lord, I have had a day," said he, "enough to parch up all the juices of
the body. There was the affair with Tony to begin with, and I should not
be surprised if the cut of the single-stick he gave her----"
"What!" exclaimed Luke, with a cry. "He strike her!"
"Well--not that, exactly. He and I were playing at single-sticks, when
he gave me a cut out of all rules, and might have laid my skull bare had
not Urith caught it on her hand. I doubt not it stung. It must have
stung, and that may have begun the trouble. No--he never ill-treated her
to that extent, intentionally, but they have not been happy together,
and she has been very miserable of late."
Luke sighed, and said nothing. He had covered his face with his hand.
"Poor wench!" continued Uncle Sol, "she has no pleasure in anything
now--that is to say, she has not for some while, not even in my stories
and songs. Everything has gone contrary. Anthony has found fault with
all I do--has complained of the state of the farm and the buildings, as
if I could better matters without money. He has been discontented with
everything, and Urith has seen it and fretted over it, and now things
are at their worst; he is away; she dying, if not dead; and, Heavens
help us--here, have you any cider? I am dried up with troubles."
"Come!" said Luke, "I can bear to be here no longer; I will go with you
to Willsworthy; I must know how Urith is. I cannot endure this
uncertainty longer."
Luke walked to Willsworthy with Mr. Gibbs, who was somewhat reluctant to
pass Cudliptown without knocking up the taverner of the Hare and Hounds
to tell him what had happened that night on Black Down, and to obtain
from him a little refreshment before he traversed the last stage of his
walk.
The grey of dawn appeared over the eastern ridge of moors by the time
Willsworthy was reached, and the birds were beginning to pipe and cry.
No one had gone to bed that night in the house, a rush-light was burning
in the hall, unregarded, a long column of red-hot snuff. The front door
was open. Mr. Gibbs strode into the kitchen, and found a servant-maid
there dozing on the settle. He sent her upstairs to call Mrs. Penwarne
down, and the old lady descended. When she saw Luke, she was glad, and
begged him to come upstairs with her and see Urith. It was possible that
his presence might calm her. She was excited, wandering in mind, and
troubled with fancies.
Luke mounted to the room where Urith was.
By the single candle contending with the grey advancing light of dawn he
saw her, and was alarmed at her condition. Her face was pale as death,
save for two flames in her cheeks, and her eyes, unusually large, had a
feverish fire in them. She was sitting up. Mrs. Penwarne had striven all
night to induce her to lie down, but Urith incessantly struggled to
rise, and she had taken advantage of her nurse's absence to do so.
Luke went to her side and spoke. She looked up at him with hot eyes, and
without token of recognition.
"I have killed him," she said. "I did it so!"--she raised her hand,
clenched it, and struck downwards, imitating the action of Fox. "He fell
on the hearthstone, as mother said he would, and then I tried to strike
him again, and again, but was torn away." She began to grapple in the
air with uplifted hands--"Where is the knife? Where are the gloves? That
for Urith!"
Luke took her burning right hand, and said, "Lie down, lie down and
sleep. You must be very quiet, you must not distress yourself. Anthony
is well."
"Anthony is dead. I killed him. And my baby is dead. They killed it,
because I had killed Anthony."
"Anthony is alive, he is but little hurt."
"Where is he? You have carried him away and buried him. I know he is
dead. Why does he not come if he is not dead. I am sure he is dead.
Look!"--she again struggled with her hand to be free, and show how the
blow was struck--"Look! You shall see how I did it!"
"No--Urith, lie down! Hush! I will pray with you."
Luke knelt at her side, but she turned her head impatiently away. "I
will not be prayed for. I cannot pray. I killed him. I am glad I killed
him, he was untrue to me. He had always loved Julian, and he grew tired
of me. I killed him. I would not give him up. Julian should not have him
back."
"Listen--I will pray."
"It is of no use. I do not regret that I struck him--I struck him to the
heart. Answer me. Is there forgiveness if there be no repentance?"
She looked eagerly, almost fiercely, at Luke, who did not know what to
answer. She was, it seemed to him, partly conscious, but partly only, of
what had taken place--to be in a state of half dream. She knew him, she
could reason, but she believed herself to have done that which was done
actually by Fox Crymes.
"There!" she exclaimed, and threw back her head on the pillow. "It
cannot be. I am glad I killed him. I could not do other. He brought it
on himself. He was untrue to me. He loved Julian all his life, all but
for a little while, when he fancied me. But you--you gave him to me at
the altar. He could not remain mine. He was drawn away. But I could not
let Julian have him. She defied me--it was a fair strife. She won up to
a certain point, then I won the last point. Look! I will show you how I
did it."
Once more she strove to sit up in the bed, and raised her hand, and
clenched it.
"Do not be afraid. I have no knife now. They have taken it away to wash
off the blood. I have heard them cleaning it. But my hand has the stain.
That they cannot clean away. I had his blood on me once before--at the
Drift. But then I did not know what that meant. See--this is how I did
it. Here is a feather, a feather from my pillow. That will do. I will
let you see how I killed him. I will strike him with the feather. Then
take that and clean it too."
Luke held her wrist, and gently forced her back on her pillow.
"Urith!" he said, "leave him to God. Commit the matter to God. Do not
take the revenging of your wrongs, real or fancied, into your own
hands."
She allowed him to compose her for a moment, and closed her eyes. But
presently opened them again, and they were as full of fire as before.
"All is to pieces," she said, "all is broken, and Anthony broke it. Look
here!" she plucked at her neck, and drew forth the halved token that was
suspended there. "Look, he gave me this--but it was false. He has only
given me one half, he has given the other to Julian. If she comes here,
I will put my hand in between the ribbon and her throat and throttle
her. Then there will be three dead--Anthony and my baby and she; and I
will die next. I hope I shall. I long to die."
"You must not desire death, it is sinful."
"But I do; I have nothing to live for. I have killed Anthony, and my
baby is dead; they say it was born dead. Then I will kill Julian. Look!
you shall see how I killed Anthony."
Again she struggled to sit up. Luke rose from his knees, and said,
peremptorily, "Lie down."
She obeyed, and he laid his cool hand on her burning temples. Below
could be heard Solomon Gibbs tuning his fiddle, and then playing a few
snatches.
Urith began to struggle under Luke's hands. "Do you hear? He is playing
Anthony's song. Let him play it out and sing it also."
Mrs. Penwarne went to the head of the stairs and told Mr. Gibbs the
request of Urith; then he put the violin to his chin and played:
An evening so clear
I would that I were
To kiss thy soft cheek
With the faintest of air.
The star that is twinkling
So brightly above,
I would that I were
To en-lighten my love.
He played very softly, and as he played the words of the song formed and
passed faintly over Urith's lips. She may have recalled that evening
when Anthony sang it, coming up the hill, and so was carried away from
the torturing present back into a pleasant past.
If I were the seas,
That about the world run,
I'd give thee my pearls,
Not retaining of one.
If I were the summer,
With flowers and green,
I'd garnish thy temples,
And would crown thee my queen.
She was quieter, lying with eyes closed, murmuring the words as Uncle
Sol played in the room below.
If I were a kiln,
All in fervour and flame,
I'd catch thee, and then be
Consumed in--the--same.
Luke lightly raised his hand, and put his finger to his lip.
Urith was asleep.